IRAPUATO, Mexico -
Despite violence from drug cartels and the dangers that come with riding atop the train cars, such freight trains -- known collectively as "The Beast" -- have long been used by migrants to travel north. The halting of the train routes also underscores the historic numbers of people heading north in search of a new life in the United States, and the dilemma it poses for countries across the Americas as they struggle to cope with the sheer quantities of migrants traversing their territories.
Once, just dozens of migrants from Central American countries would pass through Irapuato by train each day, said Marta Ponce, a 73-year-old from who has spent more than a decade providing aid to those who travel the tracks running through her town."We once thought that 50 or 60 people was massive, now it's normal," Ponce said. "It has grown a lot, a lot, a lot."